NURSES UNITED NAMED MISSOURI’S TOP UNION

The Missouri Progressive Vote Coalition in September named Nurses United for Improved Patient Care/AFT the 2004 Outstanding Labor Organization. Nurses United was nominated by the Greater Kansas City Women’s Political Caucus for its role as “advocates for safe patient care” in Kansas City.

Nurses United represents nurses at three of 12 hospitals owned by HCA Midwest: Lee’s Summit Hospital, Menorah Medical Center and the Medical Center of Independence. The nurses organized their union in 1999 to address the many problems that plague healthcare, including the decline in quality care and patient safety and the shortage of nurses and healthcare professionals.

“While still a new union, Nurses United already is a force to be reckoned with as a leader for employee rights and improved patient care,” AFT president Edward J. McElroy said in a letter to the nurses. “The efforts of Nurses United on behalf of nurses and patients, especially in the face of constant anti-union obstacles, are an inspiration to all working men and women in Missouri and across the country.”

TREAT GRAD ASSISTANTS BETTER, NEW AFT REPORT URGES

A new AFT report outlines a coordinated program to improve the financial and professional circumstances of graduate employees. The report covers issues such as setting standards for compensation, establishing fair employment practices, promoting standards of professional responsibility and ensuring full rights for graduate employees in their union.

The AFT, which was the first union to organize graduate employees, represents 16,000 of them at major universities. “Universities treat graduate employees like teachers and researchers when there is work to be done and as second-class citizens when it comes to compensation and fair treatment,” says Lawrence Gold, the union’s director of higher education.

At campuses across the country, universities are increasingly relying on graduate employees—teaching and research assistants—to teach classes and conduct research previously reserved for regular faculty. Between 1993 and 2001, the number of teaching and research assistants employed by universities increased by 29 percent, and today more than 260,000 graduate employees are engaged in classroom and laboratory instruction. Despite added responsibilities, stipends for graduate employees remain extremely low; only about one third receive health benefits.

The report, Recognition and Respect: Standards of Good Practice in the Employment of Graduate Employees, is available online at www.aft.org/pubs-reports/higher_ed/grad_employee_standards.pdf.

NYSUT LEADER HOBART TO RETIRE IN 2005

Thomas Y. Hobart Jr., president of AFT’s largest state affiliate, the New York State United Teachers (NYSUT), will not seek re-election as the union’s president. Hobart has served as NYSUT president since the union’s inception in 1973. His term expires in April 2005, when the election for his replacement will be held at the NYSUT Representative Assembly.

Under Hobart’s leadership, NYSUT has grown from 100,000 members in 1973 to more than half a million members today. The union represents 95 percent of the classroom teachers in New York state, along with tens of thousands of school-related professionals, the faculty and staff at the State University of New York and City University of New York, and thousands of healthcare workers across the state.

“The greatest honor in my life has been to serve as president of NYSUT,” Hobart says. “I’m proud of what we’ve accomplished. We’ve grown strong, stayed united and we’re ready for the future.”

Hobart’s career has been filled with a remarkable list of honors and achievements. He has traveled to more than 40 nations representing the labor movement, helping found or strengthen free trade unions in former communist countries such as Poland and Bulgaria. He also is a vice president and member of the executive committee of the New York State AFL-CIO and the co-founder of the New York State Labor-Religion Coalition. Hobart has played a significant role in the national union, serving on the AFT executive council and the union’s executive committee since 1974.